Opposable Thumbs —

Survey says: Gamers want rumble

Let's get ready to rumble! A new survey shows that many people are unaware …

The original Rumble Pack was a bulky accessory released in 1997 for the Nintendo 64. For supported games, it added a vibration feature that would rock the controller whenever the player got hit or performed a significant action in the game. Sony followed the same year with rumble-enabled controllers for the PlayStation, and soon every console was getting into the act. In fact, every console since then has had rumble features available, with the exception of the upcoming PlayStation 3. Now, according to a survey conducted by the research firm Ipsos, this omission may cost Sony market share in the next-generation console wars.

One caveat: the study was commissioned by Immersion, the company that holds a patent on rumble features in console game controllers, and the same company that Sony lost a lawsuit to over said feature. Despite survey companies insisting that they are neutral in terms of the results garnered from their questionnaires, it is trivial to word questions in such a manner that the desired result can be achieved. Immersion likely wants to get back at Sony for dismissing rumble as an unimportant feature.

Despite this, the results of the Ipsos survey are interesting and are worth a closer look. One of the biggest revelations was that the majority of consumers (74 percent) are unaware that the PS3 will lack rumble technology, and of those who do know, 82 percent believe that this will be rectified by third-party controllers. The latter thought is by no means certain—if there is no first-party support for rumble features, it may be difficult for third-party controller manufacturers to get game support for them, even if it was technically possible (Sony has not announced that the console will support sending vibration signals to a controller, and if that feature is not present, no third-party controller will be able to implement it).

As for the benefits of rumble itself, 72 percent of respondents said that it enhanced their game experience. Only 5 percent believed that the rumble feature should be removed from consoles completely. Some people reported that the rumble was an integral part of game play: one gamer said that the feature was "good in games like Madden because it seems so life-like when guys get hit" and pronounced that if there was no rumble, "Madden would be just an ordinary game."

As both the Nintendo Wii and PS3 will support some form of motion sensor (the former has a complete motion sensing system, whereas the latter will only detect relative motion and tilt), the respondents were asked to decide which combination of features they would prefer. Rumble with or without motion sensing was preferred on each of the three platforms: 59 percent on the PS3, 52 percent on the Xbox 360, and 44 percent on the Wii. Motion sensing alone was preferred only by 8 percent of respondents for the PS3, 7 percent for Xbox 360, and 6 percent for the Wii.

Overall, if the survey results are to be trusted, it does seem as if gamers appreciate the rumble feature and many will be disappointed to find it missing in action from the PS3.